Monopropellant

Monopropellant

Monopropellants are propellants composed of chemicals or mixtures of chemicals which can be stored in a single container with some degree of safety. While stable under defined storage conditions, they react very rapidly under certain other conditions to produce a large volume of energetic (hot) gases for the performance of mechanical work. Although solid deflagrants such as nitrocellulose, the most commonly used propellant in firearms, and ammonium perchlorate/aluminum/synthetic rubber, widely used in military and spacecraft boosters, could be thought of as monopropellants, the term is usually reserved for liquids in engineering literature. These can either be a single chemical that can be made to decompose exothermically, or a mixture of chemicals (generally a fuel and an oxidizer) that can be made to react with one another to release energy.